Home work

Tilt toward the sun,
elder flower's potent blooms
make sweet cordial.

The final parcel of bits and bobs for Neil's bike arrived yesterday, so after our morning climb he set about refurbishing his bicycle.

Al fresco work space.

New touring tyres, Schwalbe Marathons with kevlar protection and tougher inner tubes will hopefully cut down on the number of punctures.

Fitting the rack.

Preparing the new tyres.

And a tough and chunky Tubus Cosmo rack to replace the feeble Blackburn Explorer that lasted only two weeks of fully-laden touring. At more than twice the price, hopefully it will last much more than twice the distance...

Sparkling new rack and tyre.

Adjusting the rack.

The not so old Blackburn rack showing cracked welding.

As for replacing the broken gear wheel, we've decided to leave that one to the experts. 

And while Neil was peacefully tinkering (no joke, barely a swear word the whole time !) in the garden with his bike, I was bottling up a batch of elderflower cordial that had been left to develop it's flavour overnight.

Picking the choicest heads - or at least the ones I could reach.

Tiny, yet pungent.

Right after I shook down a whole branch of insects.

Lemons, an orange, and loads of sugar.

Mixing it all up.

Not having any muslin with which to strain the finished cordial, I decided to use the coffee drip filter. I probably wouldn't bother doing it that way again. It strained out every last imperfection but took absolutely ages - it was hours before the whole lot was ready to bottle.

Straining.

Bottling.

Voila !

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words by Gabby, images by Neil and Gabby